What do you do when a tick is attached to your pet?

It’s easy for your first reaction to panic and to turn to the internet for a solution. There are a lot of so-called “solutions” out there on how to remove a tick from your pet – the internet is loaded with them. However, many are just myths or wives' tales and can be dangerous both for you and your pet. We’re here to tell you what not to do.

Here are some examples of what NOT TO DO when your pet has a tick:

• Cover it with a cotton ball soaked in liquid soap – you’ll just end up with a clean tick.
• Douse it in kerosene – you’ll get rid of the tick, but also your dog, your eyebrows, your house…
• Cover it with Vaseline to drown it – now there’s a tick with smooth skin.
• Touch a recently blown-out match to the tick – this one is especially dangerous if you have performed the second one on the list.

Reading this, you may think, “duh, why would anyone do that?” You’d be surprised. Many of these “remedies” are common practices, but what many don’t realize is that they don’t eliminate the problem of possible disease spreading.

The reality of removing a tick from your pet is actually very simple and by no means as complicated as some of those other “solutions.”

Here’s what TO DO when your pet has a tick:

1) With gloves on, grab the tick with tweezers (near the head)

2) Pull gently.

That’s it.

If a tick head stays in your dog, don’t worry. Nothing bad will happen. It will eventually be ejected from your pet with time.

If you’re afraid of getting too close to the tick, that’s valid. Try applying PetArmor, and the tick will die and fall off in no time.

Ticks: They’re gross but preventable. Skip the kerosene and cotton balls and apply our easy-to-squeeze topical solution and read more about the dangers of ticks and the diseases they carry on our website.